Transcribing the field notes of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology

Collector: Grinnell - 1925 Location: Mineral Date: June 22 Page Number: 2490

sheltered within the cavity, the nest being in-set in bark and needle floor right against the charcoal wall. Rim of nest (exposed side) marked by coarse pine twigs and needles, scattering out towards opening of cavity; latter 600 mm. high at peak, 480 mm. wide at base of opening; rim of nest a little higher, about 25 mm., than ground in front. Nest found by watching old birds, with food perching around quietly on stubs of fallen logs and lower branches of big standing trees, finally flying down to side. The yellow thickened corners of mouth and edges of bill loom up a most conspicuous feature of young in shade of cavity. On dry ridge top, open forest of white fir, cedar, yellow and sugar pines.

Saw a Sharp-shinned Hawk in flight from direction of camp, well above tree-tops. One or both of a pair of Evening Grosbeaks were noted repeatedly in a certain section of the woods. Mr. Hoffmann discovered a Hammond(*) Flycatcher's nest^^{(5500 ft. alt.)} fully 90 ft. up on a horizontal sub-branch of a huge sugar pine - of course inaccessible. The birds looked ^^{at that range} and sounded, to me, indistinguishable from the "Wright" Flycatchers I have been getting down here with low brush-built nests. However, only shooting of the birds can settle their identity. I saw one of Hoffman's birds come clear to the ground and flit about in small firs and low snow-brush; yet both of the birds did a lot of foraging fully 100 feet up, in firs and pines.

Collector: Grinnell - 1925 Location: Mineral Date: June 24 Page Number: 2495

in that each has scattering ^^fine dots, mostly about the big end, of dark brown. The [female symbol] on the nest allowed me to get my hand within 2 feet of her, as I had an excellent view, proving her ^^{to be} wrighti. Her tail is abnormal in that only two old feathers remain, the nest being new and only about 2/3 grown out. The nest is usual size and construction and nests chiefly within the forks of the main ceanothus stem which is 5/8 in. thick just below the forking. Taken nest + 3/4 + [female symbol] ^^parent. 9 a.m.-- Mr. Hoffmann shot a (female) Three-Toed Woodpecker at 6:20 this morning out of a dead stub on ridge (Viola trail) hardly 10 minutes walk from camp, therefore not higher than 5200 ft.! 10:30 a.m. Hoffmann and I up Viola Trail at about 5500 ft. listening to Hammond (?) [sic] Flycatcher on chosen singing perch, which is very topmost snag-end of dead-topped fir. Estimated height from ground 135 feet. Bird plainly seen - breast to sun, appearing white. Bird continually shifts body, most frequently head, from side to side. Head thrown back with utterance of notes. Complete "song" has three elements: se-'put [uttered rapidly], taur-r-rp [roughly burred], tseep´ [rising inflection]. More of interval between first and second than second and third. Sometimes second and third interchanged. At camp - a Citellus douglasi, the first ground squirrel I have seen around Mineral, appeared on our "feeding log" this afternoon. It was a [female symbol] (teets showing) and she filled her cheek pouches bulgingly before she went off ^^{thru [sic] the snow-bush.}